Jazz Articles about David Nelson

About David Nelson

Album Review

Grateful Dead: American Beauty: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

Read "American Beauty: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
December 13, 2020

If it's true the Grateful Dead epitomize the counter culture of the Sixties, it's also true the iconic group embraced the following decade on its very own terms, at least at the outset of the period. Workingman's Dead (Warner Bros., 1970) represents an authoritative and confident statement of artistic purpose, while its companion piece, American Beauty (Warner Bros., 1970), is an even more staunch and exquisite declaration of style, one based on folk and country roots almost diametrically opposed to ...

Album Review

Grateful Dead: Workingman's Dead - 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

Read "Workingman's Dead - 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
September 5, 2020

Released on-line around the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Workingman's Dead (Warner Bros., 1970), The Angel's Share of over two-and-a-half hours of unreleased studio outtakes and fly-on-the wall conversations from the recording sessions somewhat give the lie to the expeditious cost-effective time the Grateful Dead spent recording their landmark album. But it's a profound paradox that the delicious simplicity the likes of which permeates the iconic band's fourth studio effort is usually the result of meticulous ...